


Fish tails -Merman TomTord AU

by Anonymous



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Mermen, Profanity, Tom’s so lonely lmao but don’t worry there’s happy ending, lonely Tom, mermaid, merman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-04-23 21:02:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19158916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Tom feels adrift in a world that isn’t his.Maybe there’s a reason for that.





	1. there’s a storm, shocker

Tom's checked shoes kicked sand as he adjusted his backpack over his shoulder and huffed. The sun was bright and hot, beating down on his head, making sweat marks show up under his arm pits.

"Fuck," he breathed, wiping his brow.

He paused to take a deep gulp out of his water bottle, rethinking his life choices that lead him to continue to come back to the cave in the mountain side rain or shine, or, more like, thunderstorm or " _fuck_ _my_ _balls_ _are_ _melting_ _off_ " hot, and really, was it actually worth it? It wasn't even really a real cave, or at least not a cool one. Like those ones that are big and spacious, full of leafy plants with pretty mysterious lighting over the unnaturally vivid but beautiful water, and then, usually, maybe, a most lovely mermaid will swim out from under the gentle lapping waves to share a fateful look with h- the main character.

 

 _Not_ _that_ Tom has EVER stayed up so late watching any mermaid movies that he was late for school the next day and later late for work or spent months pouring and crying over books and comics detailing this exact scenario before or anything super embarrassing like that...

 

Tom sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve and started his trek once more, the path as familiar to him as having no one by his side. _Ha!_ That's funny... A weak smile flickers across his face at his self deprecating joke. The sun's glare finally lets up as he steps into the shadow of the towering cliff side. He breathed out in relief. Saved seconds from death, he takes another sip of glorious water.

He stood staring at the small and particularly vertical path along the cliff leading around the bend to a place that faced out to the sea. He'd have to climb high up, further then where the water can rise when the tide's in. But he has done this plenty of times before. So he stashed his bottle in his bag next to his lunch box and zipped it up, swigging it back over himself he walked over to the bottom of the cliff, took hold of a thick plant he knew would hold, and heaved himself up onto his path. He slipped and tumbled the usual amount across before he reached a blockage of dry greyish pink brown rock and pulled himself up and over, crawling onto his stomach onto a small rock ledge.

 

Tom puffed as he turned to sit upright, bag slipping off his shoulder, and back up against the small dent in the cliff. Why does he even bother to call it a cave? He questions this every time he's there but he never stops. It just sounds cooler. It gives him a little shade if the sun isn't facing him straight on like it was today.

 

Tom squinted, wishing for his sunnies that lay forgotten on his bedside table, and pulled out a blue umbrella to shield his eyes and protect his skin from the burning hotness of today's sun.

 

Waves hit gently down below, the smell of salt and fresh air wafted into Tom's nose and he soaked it all up. He wouldn't say he loved the beach a great deal or not, but he still found himself here every free day when he wasn't working  at Woolies or at the bar. His life consisted of waiting to sit out here and watch the horizon day after day.

...He needed a new hobby.

 

He pulled his bag over to bring out a cold can, he hummed and opened it, enjoying the feeling of it in his hand and took a sip.

 

He used to have a bass that he played. Maybe he still has it, stored up in a box somewhere or something. He had tried to learn in high school, he thought he could get pretty good at it too if he kept it up, except that... it had felt like... it was meant for someone _else_. And once he'd had that thought, he couldn't stop thinking it when he was trying to strum. _So_ he'd given it up.

And there wasn't much else that interested him.

Sure he liked music, but listening to tones wasn't gonna give him a good job and a happy life or whatever.

 

Maybe he would get a kitten so he wouldn't mope so much around the house, he liked cats, but his roommate hated animals. And he didn't want to get kicked out by the only person who agreed to let him stay. So he didn't think about kittens much, no point.

 

He kept drinking.

Why was he even here? Asking the same stupid question again and knowing he'd be here tomorrow anyway.

Another sip.

Tom could drink at home, but his roommates only tolerated him on a normal day... He hated being around them too long anyway.

Another sip.

So it was just him and the sea. For god knows what reason.

He finished the can.

He couldn't get that drunk, he had to climb back down. And he didn't want to fall off into the ocean either. He pulls out his ham and cheese sandwich and took a bite.

 

He had tired to study the ocean, since he seemed to like it, but he didn't have a very good work ethic. And no jobs had really reeled him in with that field anyway.

"Heh heh heh, _reeled_. Get it?" Tom asked the seagull flying off in the distance. It was a good pun, but back to reflecting on his poor life choices. Another bite. Actually _nah_ , he'd had enough of that, _now_ _was_ _time_ _for_...

With the sense of giddiness he only got doing one thing, he pulled out a book, dark red cover and sparkling fish tail revealing what Tom's latest book was about.

Yet again, mermaids.

 

Tom stumbled in through his front door as his roommates crowded around pizza on the table. Tom put a hand against the arch way to steady himself and watched them chat loudly to each other.

"Oh! Here he is!" Finn says once they finally notice him standing there, they offer a box of pizza to him. Pineapple. He shakes his head. "Off watching the sunset again?" They ask while stuffing their mouth full of pizza, earning laughs from the others.

"So broody!" Chloe giggles.

"Ah," Tom steps back from the frame, "Yeah, yep, I was."

In truth, he was long gone and at the pub before the sun had a chance to set.

 

Chloe turns back to giggle at something Toby said and Finn gushes about pineapple pizza, spitting out pieces as they speak. Tom winces, the others laugh.

He was on the outside again. Not really a part of the group, just someone there. Not really disliked or liked, but there. Nothings really changed since high school.

"We might have to cancel tomorrow, hear there's a storm coming." Toby explains to the two about something they had obviously planned without Tom.

 

Tom slips away without anyone noticing, he steps up the stairs in a blissful drunken haze, recalling how in high school, he would drift from friend-group to friend-group, without ever actually being in one, remaining on the outside with them all, as soon as it started to get weird in one group he'd go to the next, swapping between them all year round. He just "was different to everyone else" he'd tried to explain to his mother, but she would say back, "Every teenager feels that way! Don't worry!" and he had stopped talking about it, waiting for the day he'd click with another human being, but he was _24_ now. Still lonely. Lol.

Memories didn't hurt so much when he couldn't really think or feel too hard about one thing too long with alcohol slushing through his system.

 

Hurt like a bitch in the morning though.

By the time he trudged downstairs and poured himself a bowl of cereal the three were heading out the door.

"See ya Tom! We're going to the movies, instead of the picnic like we wanted haha!" Finn left before Tom could respond.

Chloe twirled around to face him with a sweet smile, "Are you going to the beach again??"

Tom shrugs, "Probably."

"Even with the storm? I hear it's gonna be big!" Chloe smiles as Toby's arm comes down around her shoulders to lead her out.

"I've gone during storms too."

"He's a bloody wild idiot, that one!" Toby laughs as she giggles into him.

Waving goodbye Tom slumps into his seat after the door closes and finishes his breakfast.

 

 

The water around him pulled at his fins, almost as if She doesn't want him to go as much as Edd warned him not to. Tord can't help but grin at that. What's the worse that could happen? Humans can't see merkind anyway can they? So what's wrong with a little _scaring_ _and_ _stealing?_

He drives down and twirls around as he comes up, scales sparkling in the sun's rays through Her as he swims determined towards his new prey, another beach, new humans, new _spoils!_

 

By the time he reached his new water, a storm was under way. Tord groans, "Well _that's_ gonna drive the humans away, isn't it?!" He crossed his arms moodily. But he had already come all this way. Tord mulls his options over before continuing to swim forward. He could just wait somewhere, he supposed. Searching around for a better place to rest, because everywhere around here was too shallow to keep out of the way of the waves. Not that he couldn't handle these baby waves. The ones out in the real ocean is where the _real_ trouble is. But they were strong enough to not let him sleep comfortably.

 

Looking forward, he didn't sense the log behind him until it was too late.

 

 

You might say that it's a very stupid thing to do, sit up on a rock ledge in a ragging storm. But in Tom's defence, as he sits there in his blue raincoat  and useless umbrella, he's an idiot. An idiot who doesn't really care. At least he didn't bring his book or food this time.

 

Tom shivers uncontrollably against the side of the cliff, grieving over yesterday's sun, thinking maybe he should go back, knowing he's gonna try the path but end up sliding all the way down on his ass anyway. The pub has a heater. He groans. For that he has to move, the rains so heavy he can barely see. Moving seems really hard.

Suddenly the rain changes direction, and the rain lets up, unable to hit him anymore. He breathed out hard, looking wide eyed at the sheet of rain just inches from his face.

"Ok." Tom chatters, "That's c-c-cool."

He reaches out, the tips of his numb fingers immediately being hammered by rain.

_Crack!_

Tom takes his hand back, shock still. There's a tremble all around him, then suddenly his dent in the cliff turns in on itself and Tom is falling down along with it. He didn't even have time to scream before it all went black.


	2. there’s a merman in a cave, another huge shocker

Pain.

In his side.

But She is still, the storm has passed.

His bed is rough, rocky, pointy...sharp.

 _Fuck_ _his_ _fucking_ _side_ _hurts!_

Tord startles awake, flashes of memory, glimpse of something dark, sudden shove forward into hard rock, his side cut open, body scratched up, rocks blocking his escape...

"Ah..." Tord says weakly, "That's right."

 

A massive throbbing pain wrecks Tom's head, he gasps, jumping and hissing in pain, falling onto his side as he coughs and blinks dust out of his eyes. He heaved in air, panic setting in as he looks around, rock, everywhere.

No wait-! Not everywhere!

Tom pushes himself up on a pile of rocks, wincing at the pain his sore body sends jabbing through him.

Another breath.

" _What_ _the_ _fuck?_ " he whispers.

 

For he is standing, in a massive, _beautiful_ , cave.

Soft yellowish light from the sunset flickers gently down from above across brown rock, and a couple of metres away, a lake of trapped blue water lays still and peaceful.

He shuffles over broken pieces of rock, almost tripping, towards the water that has filled up what must be half the cave, it went even deeper to a place under foot where he couldn't see. He looks up, the light is coming through a hole in the side, up high, along with a few more tiny windows, but the main one was big enough for Tom to climb out of. He could see golden sky. His head drops down the virtical 10 foot rock wall to it. And then his body decides to remind him of its presence by very sharply reminding him he had fallen down in a rock slide.

He groaned loudly, stepping back and shaking his head, hissing when that made it worse, and turned around to face a huge flat rock that stuck up from the ground into a small dent of dirt.

How long was he out? It had stopped storming, he’s thirsty af, the sun's going down, and he _really_ needed to piss.

He unzipped his fly, aimed at the dirt, and sighed as he let go.

 

It was dark, cave's roof close to Tord's head, he turned to see brighter blue deeper waters. Reaching a clawed webbed hand out to grip the rocky ground and pull, he hisses sharply at the first tug. Trying again, more gently this time, Tord slowly crawled out of his little space.

He realises right away that he had slipped immediately into another encased space. Grey eyes darting around for an exit, his arm pressed harder against his bleeding side to steady his breathing and keep him from losing his head. Wanting for the currents to move against his body, guide him to the way out. But She was as still as death.

This was fine.

Nerves pinched harshly under his skin.

He could just... crawl back into the ocean?

 

Almost frantically, Tord swims up and in one motion his head is above water and the oxygen texture kicks him in his senses, ears unblock and eyes readjust to take in what they where seeing. A human.

 

"What the fuck is _that?_ "

The voice almost had Tom jumping out of his socks, his head whips around in a blur, seeing a head poking out from the water, he squeals and splutters, turning sharply to face away.

" _Ooooh_ _my_ _god_ _I'm_ _so_ _sorry!_ _I_ _didn't_ _know_ _anyone_ _else_ _was_ _here?!_ " Tom panics, quickly zipping back up and turning to face the owner of that voice that had sounded purely just curious, Tom couldn't look them straight on, his eyes darted around the rock wall instead of landing on the stranger. "Wh-what are you...you doing in the _water_ anyways?"

Tom can feel a bright embarrassing blush hot over his cheeks.

 

Tord goes slack jawed when the human _reacts_ to his voice! Almost as if he _could_ _hear_ _him!_

Wide eyes, Tord takes note that it appears that the human had apparently _asked_ him a question.

He gulps, thoroughly weirded out, and tentatively responded, "What are you doing in the land?" Maybe this human was actually just crazy, reacting to something in his mind. That must be it.

But their face twitches with confusion and his eyes finally settle _right_. _On_. _Him_.

Immediately Tord picks his chin up, washing all traces of fear or uncertainty clear of his face or body.

Now it was the human's turn to go wide mouthed, the _black_ _fucking_ _depths_ of his eyes nearly taking up half his face as he took in Tord's features...Was he breathing?

 

Tom wasn't breathing. Because in front of him was something he had only just been dreaming of his _entire_ _life_. Grey eyes blinked up at his, strange red spiked ears, red splotches under his eyes, trailing down the sides of his face and over his shoulder and toned arms, a clawed and webbed hand treaded water, but gentle and slow, as if there was no actual need to but just a want to pat and touch the water. _That_ _was_ _a_ _stupid_ _thought_ _why_ _did_ _I_ _even_ _think_ _that?_ The other one was clasped against his side, hidden by the slight angel and his other arm. And, of course, there was the _long_ _fucking_ _fish_ _tail_ sweeping down from his waist longer then he was tall and by double. It was a deep red like the rest, scales smooth looking and frilly soft fins on the sides, a lighter colour, almost pinkish, almost _sparkly_. The end of his tail was the same, just spanned out classically.

"Holy shit..." Tom breathes out, body realising it needs air to survive.

He must be dreaming, right? Or knocked out and dying and this was just his one glimpse of happiness before death takes him. Or a coma dream while he's laying in a hospital. Or _something_ that would rip this fantasy away from him and tear his heart into shreds.

 

His head suddenly jerks around, "T-this isn't a j-joke, right?" Tom whimpers, not knowing if he could live anything like this down, or survive it, he almost feels ready to bawl in happiness.

 

You must understand that Tom's not usually like this ok?

 

The mermaid tilts his head, raising an eyebrow up at him.

Tom starts to babble, sounds with no meaning, and when the mermaid smirks he is almost sent back into breathlessness.

"Hey, buddy," they floated forward, resting his arm across the rock ledge, sharp red nails tapping at the stone, tail trailing up to flip above the water once before going back under and hidden.

Tom squeaks, _that_ _looks_ _fucking_ _real!_

There's a mischievous look in the mermaid's eyes.

 _Ah,_ _shit!_   _Haven't_ _I_ _read_ _a_ _bunch_ _of_ _mermaid_ _books??_   _What_ _if_ _real_ _mermaids_ _are_ _the_ _evil_ _kind?!_

Even with that thought, Tom can't stop himself from dropping to his knees in front of him.

"Holy shit..." he whispers again.

"Is that your name?" They chuckle.

"N-no, it's... it's Tom." He gapes unashamedly as the mermaid smiles wide, showing off razor sharp needle thin teeth.

"Hello, Tom. My name's Tord."

Tord has an accent, but of course the mermaid would have an accent-?! But it still sounds like a human accent, like something he's heard on t.v before and not something entirely new from a different race.

"Are... are you a mermaid?" Tom can barely breath again.

Tord twirls his hand around, "Yeah, mermaid, merman, siren, sea elf, sea monster, all the same thing really."

Tom nods, trying to tamper down his franticness and overwhelming happiness. Mouth frozen open with a thousand different questions just on the tip of his tongue but no words to ask them.

Tord flatters his red eye lashes, "So, what about you?"

"Huh? No I'm just human." Yes, easy questions Tom could deal with right now.

Tord gives him an unimpressed look, "Then you'd be the first ever human in existence to see a mermaid for what they are before they were dragged under and in the middle of being eaten alive."

Tom sucks in his breath, " _Are_ _you_ _gonna_ _eat_ _me?!_ "

Tord snorts, "We don't _do_ that anymore, a shame." he hummed.

"Why are you here then? To take me away to your world?"

 

Tord tires not to laugh at how hopeful the poor human-thing sounded. "Well. I assume I'm trapped in here from the storm, and so are you."

Tom looks around, then pointed to a place above behind his head, Tord twists to see an opening, a _way_ _out_ , an _exit_. An exit like 100 gajillion fucking feet above the water on a vertical wall that would be impossible to crawl up with a tail.

"...I can hear Her waves behind it..." he said softly, before tensing up and immediately whipping around to flash a carefree smile, "So, Tommy, give me a boost?"

"Um-!" His eyes widen, "I doubt I'll even get myself out without falling!"

Tord frowned, "But... you're big and a land animal, aren't you suited to this kind of thing?"

Tom huffs, amused, "I'm not _that_ strong. And it's hard to get over stuff when there's not water to swim through!"

Tord grumbled, retreating to his thoughts. Tom didn't look too concerned with being trapped here, maybe he has friends that will find him. He bit his lip at the thought of more strange human-things that could see him, while he’s trapped here, he wouldn’t be able to get away if they turned nasty. He sneaks a look at the thing in question, distrust full in his graze, but Tom was still slack and gawking in awe. _What's_ _with_ _this_ _creep?_ Tord _definitely_ didn’t feel _flattered_ and he _definitely_ didn’t _like_ the attention. Nope!

"You're acting like you've never seen a fish before- _what!?_ " Tord snapped.

Tom jumped, "Ah-! I-I haven't! I didn't even know mermaids were even real!"

Tord raises an eyebrow disbelievingly, Tom didn't seem to notice, too caught up on his last words, "Holy shit! Mermaids are _real!_ "

"Uh-yeah?" Tord narrowed his eyes at him, "You trying to say I'm the first magic creature you've ever seen? That you didn't even know of magic before our fateful meeting?"

Tom lights up further, "Oh my god! Are there _more_ magical creatures!?"

"The shit did I just say-?!"

"Even vampires and werewolves or fairies or unicorns or dragons!"

Tord winkles his nose distastefully, "Are those inland creatures? I've met a unicorn once, so I like unicorns, they stabbed Matt. But, creatures like harpies are real too I guess, actually I have no idea what you might think a harpy is so-"

"A giant man eating bird but with a women's face?"

Tord stops to furrow his eyebrows in utter confused _what_ _the_ _fuck_ ness. "Ah... _nooo_..." he clears his throat, "Clearly you are very uneducated, as I suspected-"

"Hey?!" Tom blinked in surprise at Tord's rude tone.

"-which begs the big question _again_. How can you see me?" Tord almost snarls in his distrust, sure Tom was about to give up his act and shapeshift into a shark or something, or admit he trapped Tord here purposely.

"I don't know! Maybe it was fate!"

"That's dumb."

"Maybe it's been decided that you'll teach me about magic stuff! Hey, who’s Matt? Why does he have such a normal name?"

"Ok so one, I'm not your fairy godmother, two, my friend and that’s his fucking name, and three, I'm not your Prince Charming come to drag you away on a magical adventure!"

Tom slumped, "...How do you know those sayings? Aren't they from human culture?"

Tord watched him carefully, they were close but Tom hadn't tried to reach over and touch him. The gash in his side still stung worse then that time he had to be saved from a net. In fact, stung probably wasn't _quite_ the right word for it, but he wasn’t about to waste time thinking of a worse one.

"I've- _we've_ all picked up human sayings and knowledge about different places mostly from the Ocean's Soldiers, they're very talented shapeshifters, so they can turn into land animals like humans and mingle in without any of ‘you humans’ knowing."

"Whoa...that's crazy."

"It's _awesome_." Tord really wanted to be one, but the laws states that only top soldiers get a pass to go above.

"Yes, _yes_ it is awesome!"

"Of course there are those that go rouge and decide to never return..." a suspicious glance here, "but you wouldn't know anything about that either, right?" Tom gaped again, he was always doing that, he'd catch a fish if he- oh wait... " _Hey Tom_?"

Tord was hurt, what was he doing threatening a rouge? Gosh, he just wanted back into moving waters.

"I'm not a shapeshifter!" Tom burst into laughter, "Man, I wish though! I'd probably shift into a merman myself and swim as _far_ away as I could go!"

"Funny, that's what _I_ wanna do." Tord grumbled before he could stop himself, but it made Tom shut up.

"Um-sorry, don't worry though! We'll find a way out." He stumbled back up, wincing at his bruises and scratches.

As Tom wandered the cave, pushing and pulling at rocks and then freaking out every time something moved because he didn’t want to cause another rock slide, Tord’s narrowed eyes followed him. Refusing to answer any more of his incessant questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeeeee! Thank you so much for reading!!! If I could I’d put some mermaid drawings of Tord in here lmao! I’m so glad there’s more mermaid eddsworld loving fans out here with me!!! ;D
> 
> Constructive criticism/ideas are welcome! I’ve got a lose plot and direction for this, seems about 5 chapters long so we’ll see if my guess was close or not lol!  
> Again, thank uuuuuuuuuu!


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